Fast & Furious Movie Cars - Faster And More Furious

PrologueDennis McCarthy is one of Hollywood's busiest car guys and has acted as picture car coordinator on films ranging from Meet the Fockers and The Kingdom to last summer's Death Race. But his biggest projects have been 2006's The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift and the upcoming fourth film in that series, this April's Fast & Furious. HOT ROD asked Dennis to give us a behind-the-scenes look at how the cars for Fast & Furious were put together. Here's what he told us.

In the movie business, everything starts with the script. Once that's in my hands, I can begin to determine what cars the movie will need, how many, where to find them, and what modifications will be necessary to make them perform as needed. And, of course, I can calculate how much it's all going to cost.

2/14This shot of one of the F-Bomb replicas practicing an on-dirt wheelie was shot by David Freiburger, who created the original F-Bomb.

After reading the script for FF4 (titled, simply, Fast & Furious), it was obvious this would be the grand slam, monster mother of all car movies. It would need more cars and more specialty cars built than any of its predecessors. It was clear that we would need even more than the 200 vehicles assembled for The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift. Some cars would need to be extraordinarily fast, some would need to pull their front wheels off the ground for multiple takes, some would have to survive after running off-road for days at a time, and many would be destroyed in spectacular ways.

In the latest F&F film, most of the cars would be '60s to '80s muscle cars. However, Subaru was generous enough to supply us with several of its new WRX STIs, which performed flawlessly, and we were also able to get our hands on an '09 Nissan GT-R. But overall, this latest film has by far the most American iron of all the F&F films.

Starting in October 2007, and for about a full year, I ran the world's busiest hot rod shop. We turned out more than 240 cars and trucks during that time in a 25-hour-a-day, eight-day-a-week thrash on a multimillion-dollar budget. It was an enormous and exciting challenge.

3/14That's a real 528ci Hemi under that BDS 8-71 blower-others used 350 Chevys with phoney blowers. The hero Charger was built for close-up scenes and did not do many stunts. It would be one nasty bastard to actually drive. Paul Walker and Vin Diesel are shown here.

The Usual SuspectsBased on my experiences in previous films, I have learned to rely on real pros when staffing the core of the picture car department. My first hire is always John Feinblatt, who has been in the business since the silent version of Ben-Hur and has worked on all the F&F films. He came aboard as the facilities supervisor, which means he kept track of all the cars and provided adult supervision. Brian Louis and Brad Beaven joined the team as set mechanics, and Dennis "Kiwi" Marchant came on as the shop foreman. Rick Collins kept everything straight by handling all our departmental media-photos, spec sheets, and databases-to ensure continuity.

Nearly all the mechanics, painters, drivers, parts guys, and shop helpers are people I have worked with before. Once the crew was assembled, there were about 40 people working in the Fast & Furious picture car department throughout every round-the-clock day to complete the enormous volume of work involved. Beyond the intense fabrication required, we were also responsible for transporting all the on-camera vehicles to the dozens of locations scattered throughout Southern California. This meant there was no time for on-the-job training. By the time we opened shop in our 65,000-square-foot industrial building near Pick Your Part in the San Fernando Valley, we were ready to go. All we needed were cars.

Casting CarsScreenwriters rely on our department to turn their automotive visions into reality. Frequently in scripts, the cars are described generically as muscle car or hot import car with the understanding that the producers and director will come up with the specific vehicles to feature in each scene. It was our job in the picture car department to provide the producers and director with a wide variety of cars from which to choose.

7/14In the world of <i>F&F</i> films, the foundation for any solid, long-term relationship must be insane stunts performed at high speed. Here, Michelle Rodriguez and Vin Diesel steal gasoline in the most difficult way possible.

At the outset, four cars were locked into the show. We knew the blown '70 Charger from the first movie was coming back for Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) to pilot, and the Hammer, a highly modified '70 Road Runner seen at the end of the Tokyo Drift, was also returning. The red '70 SS Chevelle last seen with Vin driving through Mexico after the credits rolled on FF1 would also resurface to get Vin back into the United States. The Buick GNX was the one car described in the script that would remain for the intense fuel heist scene where Vin and his crew execute extraordinary stunts for the opening sequence of the film. There remained dozens more cars and trucks yet to be cast.

The most straightforward way to select the remaining vehicles was to gather together a variety of cars from shops and builders and have show-and-tell sessions on the Universal Studios lot. Fortunately, guys such as Steve Strope at Pure Vision Design were willing to bring their gorgeous machinery to show the producers and director Justin Lin. Steve displayed the awesome blue '72 Torino he built for Dan Widmann. Through HOT ROD, I was able to contact R.J. Gottlieb, and his crew brought the legendary Big Red '69 Camaro to one of our sessions. Year One loaned us its radical Burt Reynolds Bandit, and I was able to coerce my former coworker from the Glendale Speed Center and HOT ROD veteran David Freiburger to show us his incredible twin-turbocharged F-Bomb '73 Camaro.

While I can suggest and lobby for certain cars, the final decision is left up to Justin and Neal Moritz, the producer of all the F&F films. In my opinion, this film has the greatest collection of cars ever assembled in one movie. From the Big Red Camaro to the trophy trucks, all my favorite vehicles made it into the final cut.

8/14With more than 65,000 square feet of space, the <i>Fast & Furious</i> picture car shop had plenty of room, including 10 mechanic bays, a fabrication area, a machine shop, a tire shop, a parts department, and a paint booth. At right is a replica of Steve Strope's Hammer Road Runner built for the film. The actual Hammer was featured in <i>The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift</i>.

Building StarsBuilding hot rods for the movies isn't the same as building one for an individual. In the movie business, the cameras rarely linger over every square inch of paint or go under the hood. If there's a race in a film, it is not always the fastest car that prevails. The script dictates which car wins. Our job is to build all the vehicles to perform as required to serve the story and production. Our team must be prepared for whatever the production schedule requires and overcome whatever destruction-planned or accidental-occurs on set; the cars must always be ready for the camera. So we build as many duplicate versions of each car as is necessary to guarantee the filming never slows down, and that means we have to purchase a lot of vehicles-six '68 to '70 Dodge Chargers, for instance, to portray Dominic Torreto's personal car. One hero Charger received an actual blown 528 Hemi-thanks to Mopar Performance-while three were built to perform stunts; one was pared down to an engineless buck, which was used as an insert car and for close-ups with the actors in the studio.

Hollywood has been wrecking '68 to '70 Chargers for more than 40 years, so there is no such thing as an inexpensive '68 to '70 Charger. They are rare. We scoured Craigs-list, blasted through eBay Motors daily, and searched every autos-for-sale publication that exists. In the end, we had to pay big bucks for the Chargers-ranging from $3,000 for a rusted shell that became a buck to $16,000 for a halfway-decent driver.

Not only were the Chargers expensive, but acquiring parts for them was nearly impossible. Luckily, Year One was able to help us with several of the parts needed, but front fenders, bumpers, and valances were not available. Eventually, we had to build our own fiberglass front clips, since original pieces were simply too hard to find and very expensive. We equipped all our stunt Chargers with small-block Chevy crate engines and Turbo 400 transmissions to save money and standardize our fleet of vehicles-our apologies to the Mopar guys.

12/14The toughest cars to find-and find in good shape-were the Chargers needed to portray Vin Diesel's main ride. Basket case Chargers had to be stripped down to nothing and rebuilt as serviceable stunt cars or filming bucks.

Of all the cars built, the most unusual was a Buick Grand National, which we tackled along with the special effects department. The body was mounted backward on the chassis so it would appear to be going in reverse when it was actually going forward. It took a lot of splicing and welding to get it all to work, and we had to remove the turbo to get the V-6 to fit under the trunk lid, but that car did its job perfectly and was indistinguishable from the other six GNs (most with V-6 turbo power, a couple with Chevy crate V-8s) that we acquired and disguised as GNXs.

My favorite car in this incarnation of F&F is the '70 Chevelle we built to do wheelstands. Because the car had to get aloft and then stop within about 200 feet in a parking structure, we lightened the whole front end, bolted in a GM 502 crate motor with parts from Holley, and used a spool rearend with 4.88:1 gears. At that point, Special Effects (SFX) added a steel tray behind the rear bumper that we filled with about 700 pounds of lead weights. That car would wheelie the moment you mashed the accelerator and looked sinister doing it with just the right amount of frame twist so that-at least from the front-you'd never know it wasn't a pure power pull. It was one of eight '70 Chevelles we had for the film, including two near-perfect all originals in red.

13/14A lot of the craftsmanship that went into the fuel heist Chevy trucks will never be seen on screen. With their airbag systems, oversize custom suspension links, and beautifully built frames, these were among the very best vehicles built for the film.

We built five replicas of David Freiburger's F-Bomb Camaro, including one rigged for wheelies like the Chevelle. While the F-Bombs all had the same paint, graphics, wheels, and spoilers as David's original, none had anything nearly as exotic as a twin-turbocharged small-block under the hood. The biggest challenge with this car was getting it to lift and carry the front tires while in the dirt. Since traction was nonexistent, SFX had to add more than 2,200 pounds of weight to the rear of our wheelie F-Bomb. Unfortunately, the '73 Camaro wasn't designed for this type of stress, and during our first test session, the car bent in half like a banana. Overnight, our crew rebuilt and upgraded the entire rear structure of the car to make it perform the next day, which it did. David's real F-Bomb didn't make it into the film, though I thought a shot of its engine would have solidified the car's badass nature in the story for those not familiar with the sick and twisted nature of this car.

The most radical vehicles built for this film were the Chevy trucks we constructed for the fuel heist. We built three copper-colored '67 Chevys and three flat-black, mid-'80s Crew Cab Chevys that all featured custom-built rear frames from the cabs back and 502ci GM big-block power under the hoods.

The '67s had giant ladder-bar suspension with airbags using a massive 10-ton rear axle from a semi. To give them a real sense of heft, we mounted the biggest and widest truck tires we could find to match those rear-ends-tires usually used on tanker trailers. On a purely aesthetic level, everyone was thrilled with how these trucks looked when finished. And, you could drift them like they were Nissan Z-cars.

14/14With more than 240 vehicles working on <i>Fast & Furious</i>, the volume of traffic through the shop was extreme. Constant script changes meant the needs of the production could change at any moment, requiring that new cars be built or older ones be fixed and brought back out to the set.

If the '67s were visually outstanding, the Crew Cabs were plain old nasty. Built with twin full-floating GM 1-ton axles equipped with Detroit Lockers, they worked spectacularly well in the film. We even built one specifically to do four-wheel burnouts-a transfer case attached to the front differential directed power to the rear pumpkin, courtesy of 6X6 USA. It worked so ferociously well that I'm still hoping a shot of it smoking all fours makes it into the movie.

Production Through DestructionThere's no way to avoid the fact that we destroyed a lot of vehicles making Fast & Furious, including an original big-block four-speed '72 Torino GT fastback. That broke everyone's heart. But that's the business of show business, and no one would be going to see this movie when it opens April 3 if there weren't an overabundance of automotive carnage.

Thanks to my talented crew and the support from Universal, all the Fast & Furious cars performed perfectly, and none of our cars ever held up production due to any type of malfunction or breakdown. Even after all the action and destruction, there are several cars still left intact. Most are in storage at Universal Studios, maybe to resurface in the fifth edition of the F&F franchise.